Love Outside The Front Door
by verynoname
Summary: A boy seemed to have fallen into Ashley's life, however, there is another wanting what she does.
1. First Encounters

Chapter 1

Ashley returned from yet another boring day of school. She heaved a sigh as she passed through the doors of her haunted mansion.

"How was school?" Red asked sarcastically. Red was cleaning the house while wearing an apron and using a feather duster. Ashley went her vast library and sat near the desk on the left side of the library. She pulled out her brand-new golden scepter out of her backpack. The red orb at the end was held by four prongs that resembled claws. She took out a rag from the desk drawer and began polishing it.

The doorbell rang, interrupting her mindless polishing. Ashley insisted that she get the doorbell and have Red continue tidying the house. She answered the doorbell to find a boy and a girl, everybody with equal ages. The boy had short, brown hair and wears a navy blue sweatshirt, blue jeans, had grey eyes, and was equal height with Ashley. The girl had wavy blonde hair, going all the way down to her upper back, and was slightly taller than the boy next to her. She wore a dress with a black top and silky plaid dress with black lines and white squares, and had blue eyes. They both had light colored skin.

The girl asked as politely has possible, "I hear you're good at magic. We just came into town and wondered if you could teach us anything. You're name is Ashley right?"

Ashley said nothing to respond and let them enter on pure instinct. After they passed, She froze, and had no idea what came over her. Ashley's natural killer instinct just isn't there today. They found themselves in the library, and each got a chair at the desk and began studying some spell books.

"This one casts a barrier around you and protects you from anything as long as you can hold it long enough," Ashley explained as she pointed to a page with a picture of a generic humanoid figure with a barrier around it. "Let me demonstrate."

Ashley walked to the center of the library and put her hands, palms out, and then chanted, "_Leshe, an ialdo!"_ and swing her arms out towards her sides. A transparent, light-blue shield surrounded Ashley in a shape of a bubble.

"Come on! One swing," Ashley challenged pointing to the girl. She looked puzzled and pointed to herself. Ashley then nodded. She reluctantly came up to the bubble. Ashley folding her arms in confidence. The girl took a massive swing, the barrier could not withstand the power of the swing and took it's final stand by bouncing her arm off it's protective field, and vanished. The girl looking more confused than before, decided to take this opportunity to introduce themselves.

"Sorry, we've forgotten to introduce ourselves," She said awkwardly, "My name is Evelyn, over there is Jr." Evelyn introduced with a smile. Jr. waved from the other side of the desk.

Ashley smirked, "Meh. I'm not really one for formal introductions. Thanks, I guess."

The sound of the Christmas bells filled the room. Ashley turned to Red with an annoyed face. Evelyn produced a cell phone, and walked over to chat with whoever is on the other line. Ashley looked around the room to find a subject to talk about. Her eyes then fell on Jr., and he returned the gesture likewise. They blushed then quickly looked away from eachother.

"Hey! We gotta go! Their waiting outside!" Evelyn's voice rang throughout the mansion. Jr. hopped out of his seat and dashed for the door. He looked back at Ashley and waved. As she closed the door behind him, a sudden feeling passed through her. Somewhat panicked, she ran up a flight of stairs and ran into her room.

Ashley's room has one closed window, and blinds rolled up, barely letting enough light in to see. There was a mirror, a dresser, a hat rack, a lamp, a nightstand, a personal bookshelf, all colored brown, and her bed inside the room. The walls were colored brown, with the wallpaper peeling in several corners. The bed and frame was colored black, One of the pillows was black, and the other was crimson red. Sitting, between the pillows was a rabbit doll. It was beige-white colored and had stitches for a mouth and black circles for eyes. The blanket was nicely made, colored crimson red, and the edges was black.

Ashley locked the door with her back leaning on it. She closed her eyes calmed down a bit and looked through her personal bookshelf in hope for some answers. She pulled one out titled _Emotions Of Little Witches_. She knew one day this book would be useful, and now seemed to be the day. She flipped through all the 128 pages of emotions, their roots, and what causes them. Ashley found the last page to be on love. She ripped out page 128 and began studying immensely. Ashley couldn't make out what it was, there was no definition. She threw it on the ground and stomped on it shouting "Worthless!" over and over.

She laid on her bed and checked the black digital clock on the nightstand. It reads 3:46 PM. Ashley decides to take a nap and hope the whole thing blows over.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Ugh! First I already have plenty of things to clean, now she has guests over! I'm never going to get things done around here if this keeps up!" Red mumbles to himself. Several hours later, Red finally finishes the cleaning that needs to be done. The mansion is spotless. He sits down on the desk in the library, admiring his work, and heaving a heavy sigh in relief. Red checks the grandfather clock, and it reads 6:36 PM. He then decides to begin making dinner for himself and Ashley.

He enters the kitchen smelling the clean air. The kitchen is the only place that Red gets to his own, to keep clean, and "pretty looking" as Ashley would say. The cabinets are made of Oak wood and the refrigerator is white with sparkles. He puts a pan on the stove, warming it up, and has to decide what to make this evening. Red cooks some seafood pasta and will enjoy making it as much as eating it.

"Ashley! Dinner's ready!" Red calls out of the kitchen. There was no answer. He calls out again "Soup's on!" No answer. Red smacks his hand on his forehead and begins mumbling to himself on how lazy Ashley is as he marches over to her room. He tries to open the door, finding it's locked. He turns the doorknob in an angrier fashion. It won't open. Red calls again, "Ashley! The dinner is ready!" Something then shuffled in the room. He sighed again and went back down to the kitchen. Red ate dinner alone and sealed Ashley's portion with plastic wrap.

Ashley awoke and stretched out her arms. She sees the clock as it reads, 5:09 AM. "Got up a bit too late," Ashley chuckled. She gets out of bed and fetches a towel from the dresser and goes to the washroom. After a shower, no matter how much Ashley despises it, she walks out as clean and pretty as an average girl. Walking down the stairs with her usual crimson red dress and hairstyle, she goes into the kitchen for something to eat after skipping dinner last night. She put the seafood pasta in the microwave for 2 minutes, had a nice breakfast, and washed it down with a cup of light coffee. Satisfied, she goes to the library to pack her backpack. She put in her new scepter, a pocket spell book, homework, and stuffed several school books. Ashley left a note taped to the front door as she left.

She loved this time of day. It was around 5:30 AM, and the sun was barely rising. Mostly dark, but just a good enough light to walk the streets. The air was cold, and the light was dim, it was the perfect time of day. Ashley began walking toward school, down a dirt road. A newspaper boy rode down the street and threw a newspaper at the porch of the mansion. Ashley gets them free, they just give them newspapers whether she wants or not. Red always appreciates it when he find them on the doorstep.

Twenty minutes into her trip to school, Ashley abruptly stopped walking. An image of Jr. flashed into her mind for nothing but a second. She shook it off and began walking again. Ashley wondered for the rest of the walk why _Emotions Of Little Witches_ book had "No definition."


	3. Chapter 3

The grandfather clock rang six times. Red awoke in the library since Ashley had her door locked for the night. He stretched and rubbed his sore back and walked toward Ashley's room. The room was unlocked with the door open. The bed was messy, so she must have woken up. Red made her bed accordingly like he was instructed to do daily. He went to the washroom to freshen up. A used towel hung on the rack. Red usually took his showers first, even if Ashley took hers or not. A handful of perverted thoughts rang through head. Red regained his senses and shook it off. He found a mini-towel, just for him, inside one of the cupboards and began washing off the filth of yesterday. He left the shower feeling much better, then cheerfully walked down to the kitchen.

The kitchen had one chair pulled out from the table, and an empty bowl in front of it. Red took the dish and placed it in the sink. He made eggs and toast for his breakfast and had milk as a beverage. Red washed the dishes and while wondering where Ashley went off to. Seeing no sign of her, he began searching the mansion. Nowhere to be found, Red began to panic. He look everywhere in the house and even out the front door. He regained his senses and went back into the house, setting down next to the front door. Red sighed and figured Ashley would be fine, always was, always will, even if it involves force. He looked up at the ceiling and a note caught his attention. He plucked it off the door and read it.

_Dear, Red_

_I woke up early today and decided to take on my morning routine without your help. I got everything ready for myself and is headed off to school the very moment I'm writing this. I made a list of things you need to do for the day._

_1. Take inventory of all my ingredients and catalysts needed for spells and potions._

_2. Do the laundry._

_3. Water the plants in the yard, and feed the carnivorous one with a slab of meat._

_4. Feed the monster in the dungeon with 5 slabs of meat and fill up it's water dish._

_P.S. The pasta was good, hope you can make more of it again._

Red scratched his head, "It's usually just a list of things, not a real note." He folded the note into fourths and started his chores

Diamond City Junior High comes into view. Ashley's watch reads it is 6:02 AM. Ashley usually doesn't get to school early. It's always on-time or just plain late. As she steps onto the pavement of the parking lot, a limousine pulls up towards the school. Two familiar faces exit. Jr. and Evelyn exit the car. Evelyn, looking like she just wants to step outside and into a spotlight. Jr. wore his usual navy blue sweatshirt and blue jeans, but Evelyn looked much different. She had a black top with white sleeves and white buttons. She also had light green jeans, with pretty little jewels and buttons on it. Evelyn just screams for attention.

Penny rushes up to Ashley and squeals in excitement, "A limousine, in our school's driveway? They must be really rich to afford this simply going to school! I can't wait to meet them!" She dashes off to see Evelyn, which is feeling very awkward having a bit of a nerd rush up to her to shake her hand.

While Penny babbles on to Evelyn, Jr. walks up to Ashley with a pleasant "Hello." They stand there for a few seconds. They both blush, and Ashley turns away and walks toward her class. Feeling the same way, Jr. pries Evelyn from Penny's endless chatter and goes to the principal to speak about the transfer.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The bell rings at 7:00 AM and school has just begun. Jr. enters his classroom and sees various maps, historical figures, pictures, and several educational posters all over the wall. According to the principal, each student has one class supposedly teaching all subjects, except PE. He sat in one of the two available seats at the back of the class.

The teacher introduces Jr. to the class, "Hello everybody, we have a new student today, and he likes to be called Jr." Junior hides his face in his arms. "Please give him a warm welcome and introduce him to the school and make him feel right at class!" The teacher has frizzy blonde hair, a green striped shirt, blue jeans, green eyes, and a smile that can brighten somebody's day, somewhat wrinkly skin, and has apparently gained a few pounds. She got on straight to the history lesson which Jr. has learned about already. Jr. sighed and looked out the window for the rest of the class.

Ashley makes no hurry when arriving to her classroom. She arrives in class in her more-than-usual crimson dress and sits down in her seat in the second to last row. Everybody has looked at her entering the room and sensed that Ashley was in a better mood today, which is something quite rare in this classroom. The teacher never calls on Ashley to answer any questions, and is generous on homework, but she always finishes nearly one hundred percent anyways. She continued on with her normal lesson as if Ashley didn't exist. They both liked it that way. The teacher has grown wrinkles from worry and stress that she has caused over the past year. He is wearing a blue sweater and black jeans. Her face of fear could star in a horror movie. He has grey eyes and is afraid of spiders.

The walls are lined with the subjects that the school teaches, each with it's own portion of the wall. There is science, history, math, language arts, and several fun things and masks representing free time and whatever else. Ashley sits at her desk staring into space with her eyes facing the board, her arm on the table keeping her head up. She has a

natural talent of absorbing everything she needs to hear.

During lunch, Ashley got some cafeteria food and took out her pocket spell book and the golden scepter. She mumbled a few words and sloppy mashed potatoes and mystery meat changed into lobster with butter, a salad, a cup of soda, and some dipping sauce. Ashley began eating her new lunch with utensils that appeared long with the entrée. Jr. happened to sit on the other side of the rectangular lunch table with a few new friends bugging him about personal things. She took notice of him on the other side and tried to focus her attention on her lunch. Penny and a few of her friends approached to her.

Penny began, "Sooooooo, did something happen yesterday?"

Ashley grunted, "You're lucky that I know you."

Penny sighed, "Okay. Fine, I have my own things to attend to." Penny and friends then walked away attending their own business. Ashley glanced back at the other side of the table to find that Jr. had left. She no longer wants to finish the lobster. Ashley throws it away, returns to class, and tries to think what happened yesterday.


End file.
